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XVIL 

PROCLAMATION 

I 

OF THE LAST OF THE ROYAL GOVERNORS OF NEVf-YORK. 

I 

His ExcellencyjAMES Robertson Es(^ire, Captain General ] 

and Governor-in-chief in and over the Province of New I 

York and the Territories depending thereon in America, } 

Chancellor and Vice Admiral of the same, and Major ; 
General of his Majesty's Forces, 

A PROCLAMATION. 

The Kling having been graciously pleased to honor me with • 

the care of a Province, where, in a long Residence, I have con- 
tracted an Esteem for some, and an Affection for many of its ^ 
Inhabitants I proceed with great Pleasure to announce his benev- i 
olent Intentions. ; 

It is his Majesty's wish, by the Revival of the Civil Authority, ' 

to prove to all the Colonies and Provinces, that it is not his 
Design to govern America by Military Law, but that they are to 
enjoy all the Benefits of a local Legislation and their former ; 

Constitution. .' 

To this End I have brought out the Royal Appointments for ^ 

forming the Council, and supplying the Places of Lieutenant 

Governor and Chief Justice. And in concurrence with the i 

1 
Commander-in-chief of the British Forces, who is also his Majes- i 

ty's Commissioner for restoring Peace to the Colonies, I shall as 

V) speedily as the publick Exigencies will permit, give order for a 

opening the Courts of Judicature and convening the Assembly ; I 

and in general proceed to the Execution of the Powers reposed I 

in me, for the free Course and complete Re-Establishment, both ' 

of the Legislative and Executive Authority. 



\ 



1086 PROCLAMATION OF THE LAST 

" I take great satisfaction in the Anticipation of that happy day 
when Relations, Friends and Fellow-Citizens, having dismissed 
their gloomy Apprehensions, shall re-embrace each other, and 
return to the Offices, Pleasures and Employments of Peace. 
Your Country with your antient Priviledges, will then partici- 
pate in an extensive Commerce and be exempted from all Taxa- 
tions not imposed by yourselves. 

Until I meet you regularly in General Assembly for the 
Restoration of mutual Confidence, and the Remedying of private 
as well as public Evils, I pledge myself to Men of all classes in 
every part of the Province, that it is the compassionate Desire 
of your Sovereign and of the Parent Country, to unite in Affec- 
tion as in Interest with the Colonies planted by her hand and 
which have long flourished under her care ; that the suggestions 
of her intention to impair their Rights and Priviledges are the 
Arts of Malice and Faction, — and that every Insinuation made 
by the domestic Enemies of Great Britain of her being disposed to 
abandon the Provinces to internal Anarchy ; and tlie Mischiefs 
of their jarring Interests and Claims, or to the fraudulent and 
ambitious views of foreign popish and arbitrary Powers (of whom 
your Fathers had a wise and virtuous Jealousy) is equally false 
and malicious. 

Happy herself, under a Constitution which is the Envy and 
Admiration of surrounding Nations, she wishes to include in 
one comprehensive system of Felicity, all the Branches of a 
stock, intimately connected by the Ties of Language, Manners, 
Laws, Customs, Habits, Interests, Religion and Blood. 

I lament with the ingenuous Thousands of America who are 
irreconcileable to the unnatural Separation so inauspicious to 
yourselves, as well as all the Rest of Tour Fellow Subjects in the 
other Quarters of the World, that the Few who have found 
Means to acquire a Sway in the Management of your Affairs, 
have been averse to every uniting System of Policy and studi- 
ously shunned the Paths to Harmony and Peace. 

But it is not my aim to call them to a hopeless and mortifying 
Review of their Conduct. Can they want Evidence at this day, 
of the Detestation of their Measures, by an increasing Majority of 
their own Countrymen 1 And having every thing to fear from 



HOYAL GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK. 1087 

their exhausted Patience, I warn them to desist from any future 
Attempts to restrain and seduce the Loyalty of others, and wisely 
to provide against their Resentment, by signalizing themselves 
as heretofore in exciting so now in closing, the scene of their 
intoUerable Calamities. And I hereby give the strongest Assur- 
ances of effectual Countenance, Protection and support to all 
Persons who avail themselves of the Proclamation issued by his 
Excellency Sir Henry Clinton, dated at James Island the third 
day of March. 

Less inclmed to reproach than to conciliate, to aggravate than 
to forget, even the Guilt of those, who privy to the repeated 
Calls of Great Britain to Friendship upon Terms adequate to the 
Desire and Expectation of their Constituents, yet nevertheless 
forbore to reveal them, that they might with the greater Ease, 
press the Antient Enmity of foreign Foes, to the aid of tlieir 
own Ambition and Avarice, I exhort them to seek an Early 
Refuge in the abundant Clergency of the Crown, from the Perils 
to wiiich they have exposed themselves by Measures fraudulently 
concerted and tyrannically inforced, and affording by the com- 
plicated Miseries they have brought upon their Country, and 
the mighty Ruin still impending, irresistable Evidence of the 
Folly and Malignancy of the Councils by which its Affairs have 
been conducted. 

Towards redressing the Disorders, arising from the Loss or 
want of Charters I recommend it to all concerned, to apply 
without Delay in the ordinary Course for Charters, which shall 
be granted as soon as Civil Authority takes place. 

As to the Public Books of Records, so important to your Titles 
and Estates in all Parts of the Colony and for&erly lodged in the 
Secretarie's Office, I understand that they were separated from 
the Rest by the provident Circumspection of my Predecessor-, 
whose merits are above my Applause ar^i have often had yours ; 
and having been afterwards sent Home for safe Custody, you 
may rely upon their being carefully preserved, and duly returned 
as soon as the Common tranquility is restored. 

I now call upon every Individual in the Colony, to shew his 
Allegiance, Fidelity and Patriotism, by affording his Assistance 
towards accomplishing the Kings most gracious Design of restor- 



1088 PROCLAMATION OF THE LAST ROYAL GOVERNOR OF N. Y. 

ing the Blessings of Peace and Good Government : And they 
who shall most distinguish themselves by tlieir laudable Efforts 
for these good Purposes will most assuredly best recommend 
themselves to the Royal Approbation and Favour. 

Given under my Hand and the Great Seal of the 
Province of New York in the City of New York, 
the Fifteenth Day of April 1780, in the Twentieth 
Year of his Majesty's Reign. 

James Robertson. 
By his Excellency's Command, 

Sam Bayard Jun^^ D. Sec'y. 

God save the King. 



1 



"Where is this Indian Gkammab. and DiciioNAiir? — Father Andrew White, 
an English Jesuit, came to Maryland as a Missionary to the Indians in 1633. 
Alegambe in his work (in the State Lib:) entitled, Mortes illustres et gesta 
eorum de Soc. Jesu, p. 32, states, that the«-worthy father had prepared with 
great pains a Grammar, Dictionary and Catechism of the tribe among whom he 
labored. He had in hands, when Alegambe wrote, Expeditionem et Historiam 
ejus gentis. It were well if enquiries were made for these MSS. by the 
Representatives of the United States at Rome and London. 

A Relic. — An ancient mourning-ring was plowed up a few weeks since at 
the beautifully situated country-seat formerly occupied by the illustrious Fulton, 
near Oak Hiil, Columbia county, N. Y. It is of gold, very thick and heavy, and 
on its outer circle bears an inscription, in gold letters on a back ground as fol- 
lows: — " PETEE soHTLER, OB. I. SEP. 1754 — M. 30 6." "Whether the gentleman 
whose death is recorded by the memento was the father or the brother of Gen- 
eral Schuyler, a patriot of the Revolution, we are unable to say, and must leave 
to be determined by those who are better acquainted with the history of the 
family. In a book of genealogies, we perceive that the Schuylers intermarried 
with the Van Rensselaers and Livingstons, axd it is probable that they were also 
related to the Fulton family. It is upward of twenty-five years since the latter 
resided at the above mentioned place, and we are informed by a friend who lately 
visited it, that the once elegant mansion of the successful projector of steam 
navigation is now rapidly falling into decay. The only part inhabited is the 
the basement, while the spacious dining-room and parlors, where distinguished 
guests were wont once to assemble, are now used for the sole purpose of storing 
the produce of the farm. As an instance of the mutations of time, it may be 
mentioned that the present owner was for a long period coachman to the family. 
After the death of Fulton, he commenced working the farm on shares, and, by 
dint of industry and economy, was eventually enabled to purchase the whole of 
it. He is now possessed of a very handsome competency. — N. Y. Com. 
Advert. July, 1851. 

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